preserved, his eloquence is often so far misdirected that the truth becomes discoloured, and makes the impression of falsehood. In his hands the faults of his favourites lose much of their magnitude and grossness, while their merits are raised much above their proper level, and with regard to their opponents, the inverse process is adopted. Disagreeable facts are passed over, or but partially and very artfully developed; while others, of an opposite nature, have all prominence, and all imaginable force assigned them. Incidents of very rare occurrence, and existing only as exceptions, are culled with the greatest care, and presented as the rule, and as no more than samples of the abundance that might be adduced. And in describing the reasonings and the motives by which the contending parties from time to time were influenced, it is the fixed usage of this writer to consult his own prejudices or imagination much more than the lights afforded by the documents of the times. These summaries, as they are called, are inserted by Hume, in the place of the speeches which the ancient historians were wont to put into the mouth of their leading men; and, interesting as they are, deserve no more credit, considered as the character of parties, or as accounts of what was really said, than it is usual to bestow on those elaborate harangues. There is much reason to believe that the historian began the reigns of the two first Stuarts with a sincere conviction that sufficient allowance had not been made for the peculiar situation of those princes. But his delinquencies are such, that this excuse must be of small avail in his defence. The majority of more than one generation in this country have derived their notions of English history almost exclusively from the pages of Hume; but so low has he fallen as a historical authority, that the persons who have read scarcely anything else, rarely show courage, or rather weakness, enough to make any appeal to him.

THE father of this wise and honest statesman was burgomaster of the town of Dort, or Dordrecht, and one of its representatives in the Assembly of the States of Holland, a man of patriotism, courage, and integrity, who apprehended danger to the liberties of the United Provinces from the hereditary power of the House of Orange, and used his best exertions to counteract it. His sons, Cornelius and John De Witt, born at Dort, the former June 25, 1623, the latter September 25, 1625, inherited his principles and his integrity; and rendered his name illustrious by greater talents exerted in a higher sphere of action. Of these brothers, united in their counsels, their lives, and their deaths, it is the younger, John, the original of our portrait, who rendered the name of De Witt most illustrious, by the ability and virtue with which, during eighteen years, he directed the government of his country.

Cornelius De Witt served in the navy during several years, and distinguished himself in the bloody wars of England and Holland; he also studied jurisprudence in his youth, and displayed talents for civil and military business not unnoticed by his fellow-citizens, who bestowed several municipal offices on him at an early age. The youth of John De Witt appears to have been less occupied by active employments; though he possessed great knowledge and practical skill in maritime affairs, and was esteemed one of the best pilots of his time. The early development of his political talents, aided probably by family connexion, and the respect due to his father's services, soon introduced him to high civil employment. In 1650 he was appointed Pensionary of his native town, and in 1652, Grand Pensionary of Holland, an office which gave him a commanding influence over the

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deliberations of the whole Union. It was granted nominally only for five years, but in effect was permanent, since at the end of each period it was customary to re-appoint the holder.

It was the leading object of De Witt's policy to diminish the influence which the princes of the House of Orange had acquired, as much by their services and high personal qualities, as by their power and territorial possessions, and to strengthen the republican institutions of his country, which he saw to be endangered, as it was ultimately destroyed, by their hereditary tenure of the office of Stadtholder. "The chief direction of the affairs of Holland, for eighteen years, continued in the hands of their Pensionary De Witt, a minister of the greatest authority and sufficiency, the greatest application and industry, ever known in their state. In the course of his ministry he and his party reduced, not only all the civil charges of the government in this province, but in a manner all the military commands of the army, out of the hands of persons affectionate to the Prince of Orange, into those esteemed more sure and fast to the interests of their more popular state. And all this was attended for so long a course of years with the perpetual success of their affairs, by the growth of their trade, power and riches at home, and the consideration of their neighbours abroad." Such is the testimony of Sir William Temple, (Essay on the Origin and Nature of Government,) to the policy, success, and merits of a friend whom he loved and venerated. The position of affairs, when De Witt attained to the direction of the state, favoured the development of his republican views. William II., Prince of Orange, had died in 1650, and his posthumous son and heir, afterwards William III. of England, was an infant. Had the representative of that house been of mature age, we may conclude that gratitude for the eminent services of his predecessors, and the natural inclination of the people towards the form of government to which they had been accustomed, would have led again to the appointment of a Stadtholder in his person. But the office was of a nature which could not be well exercised by a regent, or committed to an infant, without acknowledging a species of hereditary right, scarcely differing from the claims of royalty: and accordingly in some provinces another prince of the Nassau family was appointed Stadtholder, in others, of which Holland was one, the office continued in abeyance, and De Witt, thwarted by no superior, was able to direct his best efforts to counteract the workings of the Orange party, and to effect those changes in the civil and military organization of the state, which are mentioned in the above quotation from Sir W. Temple. The same